


Rehearsal of Harmony

by Akutoku



Category: Witch's Heart (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Domestic, F/M, Living Together, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23508295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akutoku/pseuds/Akutoku
Summary: If she wanted love, she probably should have chosen someone more affectionate. If he wanted solitude, he probably should have chosen someone more indifferent. But in the end, they each dance for each other quite elegantly. That is, even as time goes on and nothing is left to hold them down besides their own hands tugging at strings unconsciously.
Relationships: Ashe Bradley/Claire Elford
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Rehearsal of Harmony

**Author's Note:**

> To keep it brief, this is meant to take place in a post-canon where Ashe doesn’t kill Claire and she stays by his side. They live together and Claire works whilst Ashe continues his schooling.

“Haaah...,” letting out a sigh, Ashe placed his pencil down on the table for the first time in what felt like ages. Exams were to be held soon, leaving studying to be imperative at a time like this. Determined to do the best he could, he had been reviewing every single textbook example of each concept he could possibly find, likely assuming that this kind of studying was simply the bare minimum one could do. Still to his side was the plate Claire had delivered his dinner on, which he had managed to work through between textbook exercises. Of course, it was ultimately cold by the time he got around to eating it, but he didn’t want to reheat it and let Claire notice that he wasn’t eating at a proper time. In the first place, he felt bad that Claire had taken it upon herself to be in charge of all the meals she was present to make in an attempt to leave more time for Ashe to study. Although he greatly appreciated the notion, he did quite miss getting in the kitchen and doing his part himself. And of course, it wasn’t as though he disliked Claire’s meals, but there were definitely some flavors and textures he preferred that she wasn’t able to recreate just yet. 

Tired. He was painfully tired at this point. It was about time to call it a day if he hoped to fall asleep at least before midnight. First, he would need to let Claire know he was done studying and that she could go to bed now. Despite his protests, in Claire’s efforts to not bother him but also cheer him on, she would try to stay awake until he was done so they could go to bed at the same time. A poorly thought-out plan, however, with the number of times he would find her asleep on a couch when he would go to call her. It was his fault, perhaps, but he supposed that if she was that desperate to spend time with him, she could put in the effort to stay awake late enough. Claire would promptly protest this reasoning whenever Ashe brought it up. Not that it mattered to him. 

For tonight, he closed up his books carefully, setting a marker between the pages he left off on before neatly piling the collection of textbooks near the corner of the table. Standing up, he grabbed the dish from his meal and headed for the kitchen to return it. Or maybe he would check if Claire was awake first and then proceed to wash the plate; that was surely a more efficient idea. 

Per usual, he was able to find Claire delicately bundled under a blanket on the couch she had normally fallen asleep on for the past few days. When he walked closer, she turned her head in his direction, beaming as she processed that she had successfully managed to stay up late enough to catch Ashe in the evening.

“Could it possibly be... you’re done studying for tonight?!” She asked excitedly, anticipation impossible to miss in her tone.

“Yes, I have, in fact, decided that I have completed enough work for tonight!” He hadn’t really, at least, not by his standards. But knowing that Claire required more attention than he was used to giving, he figured it was best to make sure they at least interacted for once. Personally, it didn’t matter much to him if he couldn’t see her for a couple of days, although Claire would surely argue against him on that too.

“Make sure you don’t overwork yourself, okay? If you go to bed late every night, you won’t get enough sleep! Aren’t you tired?”

“Not at all!” Another lie. “Anyways, I need to go clean this plate off, so I’ll meet up with you when I’m done. Go ahead and wait for me, alright?” He wasn’t exactly trying to push her away, not at all, but he didn’t want to be lectured, even if she did have a point. 

“No way!” she said in protest. “Let me help you with that! It’ll be much faster if we work together!”

Of course, Claire wasn’t so simple as to be pushed away. Though she wasn’t the brightest, it was impossible to miss her stubbornness when it came to something she had her mind set to. Perhaps Ashe was similar in that sense too. 

“I mean, it’s just a single plate,” he thought for a moment, wanting to turn down her insistence but deciding it was ultimately futile. With a sigh, he headed for the kitchen with the slightest gesture in her direction signaling to follow. “Okay, let’s make it quick, then,” he said quietly.

She hopped up to her feet, scurrying behind as he didn’t wait for any sort of response. “Ashe~ wait up!” By the time she got to the kitchen, he already had the sink running, quickly brushing a finger beneath the steady stream of water to check the temperature. Pushing beside him, she gave him a displeased pout when he finally looked down in her direction, annoyed at how he seemed to be ignoring her. Even after going out of his way to prematurely end his studying for the night to speak with Claire, it still didn’t appear to be enough to satisfy her. 

How troublesome.

“Please don’t make that face, Miss Claire; You should smile!” 

No response, just her unwavering and unamused stare. He didn’t seem to understand, she thought. There was no doubt he was still pushing her away, but she knew that he was acting stubborn yet again. Even if he made it seem like he’d rather be alone, she knew the façade would crack whenever she could spend enough time by his side. Right until there were no lies left to hide behind. 

Right until there was nothing left.

“...after I wash this, would you mind drying it for me?” He asked in as kind of a tone as he could muster. As expected, the displeasure crumbled from Claire’s face and was replaced with her usual, gentle smile, happily nodding in correspondence with his request. He found it almost scary how easily she could be taken advantage of, although it wasn’t like he had any ill intentions at the moment. In fact, she was even getting her way over him, because if it were his choice, he would deal with this alone. If it was really his choice and he entirely disregarded her, he would’ve still been studying for another few hours into the night. As much as he felt she was simple, perhaps he was being controlled just as easily if he really thought about it.

They quickly washed the single dish and returned to the room where Ashe had been studying a few minutes prior. Claire sat in front of the the pile of stacked textbooks he had been working through, peaking at the pages of the hardcover book on top. With every page she glanced at, she could feel her head hurting more and more as she tried to make sense of the equations combining letters, numbers and small symbols. Similarly, when she gave up on the textbook and gave Ashe’s notebook a try — hoping to find some kind of writing she could read — she instead was met with the same jumble of text that was somehow supposed to form legible equations.

“Is there something that piqued your interest?” Ashe asked, taking a seat at her side. His face was close to hers when he moved forward to look over her shoulder at which concept she was perusing. For once, he was smiling more naturally, eager to share his expertise on the subjects he worked so hard at.

“Well, I... can’t exactly read any of it, so...” she laughed slowly, not wanting to let him down when he seemed more excited about her interest in his work than anything else this week. Ashe was truly the only person Claire knew who could spend his entire day doing work and still be eager to talk about it even more. “Do you have any... essays or something other than these things?” She asked, pointing at a random page of neatly written equations. If he had something she could understand, maybe she could reciprocate his excitement slightly more effectively than she was with her current total confusion.

“Essays...,” Ashe repeated, moving back to think it over in his mind. “My classes aren’t exactly the sort where I need to write papers. At least, not at the moment they aren’t. You could try reading my notes if that’s a close enough substitute.” He reached over her to take the notebook she was holding, flipping to a separate section marked by a plain divider which appeared to be his notes section. Curiously, she took a peek at the pages decorated carefully in his sharp writing. To her dismay, despite it all being written in the language she spoke, it may as well have been in a foreign language with the amount of vocabulary and word combinations she had never encountered even once in her life. The only response she had was to break out into weak, stilted laughter.

“You sure are smart, huh...”

“Huh? This is only the first unit; surely you can understand this, right?” A little bit dumbfounded at her inability to understand the basics of the teachings, he even briefly skimmed over the notes to confirm that it wasn’t a hard concept he had opened to. Unfortunately, the blank expression she wore confirmed that she really didn’t know what she was looking at. 

“If you’d like, I can teach you some of it! It’s quite an interesting topic — officially Ashe-recommended!” With that kind of energy, even Claire couldn’t feel intimidated by the subject. Whenever Ashe would explain something, he could always find a way to illustrate the topic that would perfectly click in Claire’s mind, making even the most complicated of topics into child’s play. Whenever he had that sort of energy, she couldn’t help but smile.

“But aren’t you tired? Shouldn’t you get to bed?” As much as she desired to take advantage of the opportunity to spend time together, his well-being was a more pressing matter. 

“I told you before, I’m not tired in the slightest! Here, start by reading the notes and I’ll help you understand anything you get stuck on!” He handed her back the notes for her to read, which she took with a little hesitation. 

“W, well, I shouldn’t pass up a teaching by Mr. Ashe himself, right?” She tried to call back the glimmer of enthusiasm she held before and dove into the text, reading it aloud as Ashe instructed.

Maybe she stumbled over some of the words, but she pushed herself through the page as best as she could. At first, when she slowed down to carefully butcher a piece of foreign vocabulary, Ashe would promptly chime in and correct her, to which she would repeat the word again properly before continuing forward. However, as she worked her way further down the page, there were less corrections being given from her instructor. Initially, Claire felt a bit proud when she thought she was saying each word correctly, but over time she knew there was no way she was pronouncing certain things right. And yet, Ashe still wasn’t correcting her. She didn’t want to sound rude and ask if he was still paying attention, and she was a little nervous to look back to check on him given how close they were. Once she felt a gentle weight pressing against her shoulder, though, she stiffened in surprise before realizing what was going on.

Sure enough, when she glanced back at her shoulder, Ashe’s forehead laid softly against it. She wasn’t sure exactly when, but at some point in her reading, he managed to fall asleep. A little annoying, it was, as she could conclude he had lied about not being tired. The very reason she pressed him about being tired was because she knew he must’ve been sleepy with how much he was working. It wasn’t like she was particularly upset at him over this but now she had the issue of Ashe being asleep on her shoulder. 

Asleep. On her shoulder. 

Perfect.

“A, Ashe...,” with no other choice, she placed her hand atop his head and lightly nudged at it. 

To her relief, he woke up after her first attempt, lifting his head up with a sudden jolt upwards.

“Why did you stop reading?” He asked.

“You fell asleep on me! Literally!! I knew you were tired all along!” 

Ashe blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes and fully assessing the situation. He screwed up, that was obvious enough. Maybe in retrospect he should’ve just given her a quick rundown of the content instead of having her read. What he had hoped was that while she was reading, he could briefly close his eyes but still hear and correct her. Obviously, this was a plan that begged for failure, but he had convinced himself it would work out.

Well, likewise, it didn’t in the end.

“Aha...haha... I suppose I was more tired than I thought!” He laughed weakly, “we can continue next time I have some free time.” Except that, likely, wasn’t any time soon. At least, not with his work ethic. When he reached over Claire’s shoulder to retrieve his notebook, though, she pulled it away in the opposite direction. 

Unsure why she moved away, he looked at her in confusion to which she responded bluntly. “I want you to be more honest with me, okay? If you were tired, I would’ve fixed up the bed and let you rest!” She was clearly a bit annoyed with him, but she still tried to not let that show as best as she could. Of course, hiding emotions was never her strong suit, especially in the presence of such a perceptive person as Ashe.

“I understand, I understand. Really, I just hadn’t realized. So please, could you...” he continued to try to reclaim his notebook as Claire continued to drag it further away. 

“Hey, don’t just say that! You gotta mean it! And how could you not realize you were tired when you fell asleep in less than a minute?!”

A bit annoying, now. Ashe still didn’t feel like being lectured, not to mention he was quite tired and just wanted to sleep at this point. He sighed before readjusting his position from sitting to kneeling, giving himself more freedom of movement to reach for his notes. Claire still fought back persistently, scooting away slowly with the notebook held as far away from him as she could manage.

“Claire... come on,” he didn’t want to be forceful with her so he opted for an idea that would be effective without violence. Instead of facing the notebook, he turned his attention towards Claire, leaning in her direction to softly press his lips against hers. She froze in surprise, eyes initially open in disbelief before closing them to avoid confrontation. A perfect opportunity, Ashe thought, reaching towards her now unmoving arm and finally reclaiming his notebook while she was distracted. Once he had what he was aiming for, he pulled away from Claire and got up, placing his book back on the pile.

“Why are you still frozen down there? I’m fairly certain I heard you mention you’d fix up the bed just for me so I could get to sleep,” he said with an innocent smirk, a knowing grin flashing across his face for the smallest fraction of a second. “Anyways, I’m going to get ready so you should get moving soon. That is, unless you wanted me to sleep on your shoulder all night.” 

Claire's body stiffened at the suggestion. For some reason, she couldn't put her finger on why she had such a reaction of speechlessness. What she wanted to ask for, what she wanted to argue against... it wouldn't click into place. Without any sort of verbal reaction, Ashe walked back to her, crouching at her side. A smile was still unmistakably present on his face, but somehow it now carried a different air as he lowered his voice only the slightest bit from before. 

"Please don't take everything so seriously, It's just a joke," he brushed the hair that concealed her ears slightly back, closing even more distance between them by leaning towards her. "I'm sure Miss Claire wouldn't find any amusement in being by my side while I'm unconscious, gen~tly resting on your shoulder, right beside your e—" 

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!!" Before Claire could say anything more in protest, he had already moved away, with yet another innocent smile accompanied by another small laugh. And like that, Ashe was already back on his feet, leaving the room with a curt wave. 

It wasn’t fair! Not fair at all! Claire got up and reluctantly went to work making the bed like she had offered. Next time, she wouldn’t let him trick her so easily like that! She would need to think of her own way to get back at him, now that she was bound and determined after being so effortlessly played. It didn’t matter that it was over something pretty insignificant; this was for her own pride this time! And matters like these were the ones she was the most stubborn over.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this story sitting around for months and finally decided to just try sharing it. I kind of worry how it might come across because I tend to write their emotions rather coldly... Despite this, I hope other fans of the ship might be able to enjoy it! If you did enjoy it and want to see more of the pairing, consider letting me know because I'll actually post it next time instead of screaming uncertainly while I check what I wrote dozens of times. Thank you for reading!


End file.
